TRUST Trivia: Derek Cianfrance

Director Derek Cianfrance knows how to deliver emotional drama. His artistic feature films take on the subjects of love, loss, family life, and relationships and make them real. He also directs commercials, including the recent commercial for Dick’s Sporting Goods, “Every Snap,” with Anomaly and Rock Paper Scissors. This sports commercial, along with others of his, draw viewers into the heart, soul and adrenaline of sports.

Here are some interesting facts you may not know about this versatile director:

1. He received his B.F.A. in Film Production from the University of Colorado, Boulder. There, he studied under avant-garde film legends Phil Solomon and Stan Brakhage, who was also a mentor and teacher to South Park Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

2. He wrote, shot and edited his first feature, Brother Tied, when he was 23 years old. It did very well at festivals, including Sundance.

4. He thinks it’s very important to leave little secrets all over his movies. Every detail has a meaning, and that’s part of what makes Cianfrance’s films so multifaceted and stimulating to watch. Here he speaks with Hollywood Reporter on cinematography:

6. His next film will be an adaptation of M.L Stedman novel, “The Light Between Oceans.” Variety reveals that the story takes place on a remote Australian island after World War I, where a lighthouse keeper and his wife face a moral dilemma when a dead man and a two-month-old infant wash up in a boat on shore.